12 Hours After

Translator: Khan

Editor: Aelryinth

Lifting Seo-hyun, I said, “Seo-hyun, papa.”

Seo-hyun copied me, moving her cute cheeks. “Paba!”

I replied with a big smile on my face, “Yes, Seo-hyun. Papa.”

“Paba!”

I lifted Seo-hyun a couple of times and laughed, “Oh, yeah, you’re good. My daughter.”

My wife, who was watching, asked me, “Oppa, what would you like to call our second child?”

I looked at my wife with Seo-hyun in my arms. “Well?” And after thinking for a moment, I turned my head again and asked Seo-hyun, “Seohyun, what should I name your brother?”

Seo-hyun looked at me and said, “Pa ba..”

I smiled and said, touching Seo-hyun’s cheek, “No, not me, your brother’s name.”

My wife was in her second pregnancy. Ah-young’s gynecologist advised us to buy a nice robot toy for the child this time. It was a boy.

“Well, how’s Se-hyun? Han Se-hyun.”

“Seo-hyun and then Se-hyun?”

“Yes.”

“It’s not bad. By the way, oppa, why do you have to name them after SHH?”

In fact, that secret was hidden in Seo-hyun’s name. Seo-hyun Han. SHH, the initial name was the same as mine. It was a long-term arrangement for Seo-hyun and her soon-to-be-born brother. Even if the SHH Group was inherited, its owner’s initials would be the same.

“Won’t that be good in the long run?”

“Why? Are you trying to get our kids to run a company?”

“… if they want.”

As I had said during Doljabi, I was going to let my children do whatever they wanted to do. I would let them study if they would want to, I would let them do art if they would want to, and I would let them be athletes if they wanted to.

‘Doing what they want to do is the source of happiness.

‘However, in Korea, the sons and daughters of a chaebol often run them after their parents. It may not be in foreign countries, but a professional management system has not yet been established in our country. I think it would be a little difficult to leave my billion dollars to someone else. So, it’s practical to assume that Seo-hyun and the second in the womb will manage our company. Then, it may be helpful in many ways later to set the same initials.’

“… if you think like that, do it. Se-hyun is also a good name,” my wife agreed with me.

I looked at Seo-hyun and said, “Seo-hyun. Your younger brother’s name is Se-hyun.”

Whatever I said, Seo-hyun reached out and grabbed my nose. “Paba!”

That lovely look gave me a big smile. In the old days, my mother and father used to say, ‘You should have your own child to understand a parents’ feelings.’ I was getting to know their mind these days.

‘I could do anything for Seo-hyun and Se-hyun, even at the expense of everything I have.’

I looked at Seo-hyun and thought, ‘Whatever you do or run our company, I need to make the three letters, SHH, famous. That’s the only way to see the future.

‘I should make their names, Han Seo-hyun and Han Se-hyun, appear in the news. Of course, they may still appear as “a daughter of Han Sang-hoon” or “a son of Han Sang-hoon,” but that’s not enough. Only when their names are in the news, will I be able to get the news right through People Search. That way, I can take care of my children’s future.’

I kissed my daughter on the forehead, thinking, ‘Seo-hyun, whatever you do, grow up healthy. I’ll protect you for the rest of my life.’

But then, my daughter made a weird smell.

“Oh, my princess. You pooed!”

I laid Seo-hyun down carefully, and got ready to change her diaper. But my wife stepped forward and said, “I’ll do it, oppa. Aren’t you going to work today, anyway?”

I looked at the clock. It was 8:35. I was definitely late. Even if I was going down in a hurry now, I would arrive just in the fiftieth minute when the future news would come. In fact, I didn’t have to go to work, and I could see it in my study. I thought for a moment whether I should go to work or not.

‘Well… ah… I am supposed to get a job report from Secretary Lee.’

In the meantime, my wife took over Seo-hyun from me. She took off her diaper like lightning, and changed in her new diaper. I’d tried it myself, but I couldn’t keep up with my wife. Watching her, I stood up from the seat. I would have loved to stay more with my daughter, but I had a lot of work to do.

——————-

I sat in the president’s office and looked at the monitor. As always, from 12 Hours After to 12 Years After, there were five emails.

‘Let’s see…’

These days, I read the mail more carefully. Besides reading and interpreting information, I had to see if there was anything else to edit.

‘Well… there’s nothing to edit?’

Now I had three big goals. The first was to gain power that reached even the United States and China. The nuclear war was blocked by my efforts, but the tension between the two superpowers was constantly a problem for our country. America’s fight to keep the world’s power, and China’s desire to become a new power, was really the matter of the twenty-first century, and the brief pause did not end the conflict.

Starting with the project to make the next president of William Turner, I was going to extend my reach to the United States and China and increase my influence. It would be almost impossible to make them puppets like our president, but with the right level of influence plus the “Edit” function, it would be enough to play with them.

‘When I get the American news, I’m going to search for the current U.S. president and William Turner.’

My second goal was the unification of our country.

‘As we know from the history of the late Joseon Dynasty, no matter how hard we try to solve the problem through diplomacy, the problem is not solved if a nation has no power. In order to have the right to speak in international politics, Korea must have a strong national power, equivalent to the U.S., China, Russia, and Japan.

‘And that’s not done with just our current half-country, South Korea. Only when we achieve peaceful reunification through exchanges with North Korea will we have the power to confront other countries with dignity by growing our population, defense, and economic power.

‘The search term must be the name of the president of our country, and the North’s leader.

‘Fortunately, there’s a lot of news for the two. I will choose the news and lead our country along the path of reunification. It’s not a normal job, so it’ll take about ten years. Before that, the first goal of taking power in the U.S. and China should be preeminent.

‘It’s not easy, but… it’ll mean something.’

The third and last goal was to achieve the final grade, P Class. I was actually content with the strength I had now: the level of money unrivaled in the country, a personal connection with the president, the power to receive the future news and manipulate events, and even the perfect spy to dig up everything that had happened in the past.

There was little I couldn’t do now. The power was so close to God. However, there was still a yearning for the next class. The last grade, the last force, whatever it was, I wanted to have it, even if I didn’t need more power.

‘Next class is P… If I could get it, I’d probably…

‘The method to get the next grade is money. I can make money just like I used to. As I make money, the asset value of Invictus Investment will grow, and as soon as I meet the rating conditions, I will naturally get it. Right now, I’m a complete expert in making money. It’s not only possible to decode future news, but also manipulate it.

‘The next goal is to make four trillion dollars. Amazon in the U.S. is worth about two trillion dollars, so twice that. It is like saying that I will have the largest company in the world, but it’s not that hard for me. Whatever I do, I know the future twelve years from now. Making money is now a matter of me going to the place where the treasure chest is buried and taking it out. It takes only a little time, not a difficult task at all.

‘It will naturally be done if I run a company. Sometimes, if I touch an article, and if I have a jackpot, it’ll happen a little faster.

‘It’s actually going to take more time than the two preceding things. Since day one, I’ve had money, so I can do anything. If I achieve the first and second goals, it will be accelerated. The expansion of influence in the U.S. and China will almost certainly lead to an increase in my earnings. Unification with North Korea is a factor that could cause a boom in the nation’s stock market.

‘If reunified, the war crisis, which will never happen as long as I am around, will be eliminated completely, eliminating the traditional Korea discount, and the domestic market will nearly double rapidly. For example, my subsidiaries, Changhae Food and Songhae Brewing, will have a huge market for dumplings and makgeolli. Though unification will be a shock in the short term, foreign investors will come to a unified Korea, which combines cheap labor from North Korea with excellent South Korean technology.

Jim Rogers, a legend in the investment world, used to say repeatedly “If I could invest only in North Korea, I would invest all my assets.”

I thought, half lying in the chair in the president’s office, ‘Then, let’s edit the news on the U.S. side this month. The starting point is here, right?’

While I was thinking about it, the telephone rang. I answered it and heard Secretary Park’s voice over the phone. “Boss, Secretary Seo… No, Seo Ji-hoon is here.”

“He is here already?”

Today’s meeting was scheduled, but he came twenty minutes earlier than the appointed time. Park spoke in a rather playful way.

“Shall I have him wait outside?”

“No, tell him to come in.”

Ji-hoon came in quickly. He was slightly thinner than usual, and I could clearly feel the energy of his overwork.

“How are you, boss?”

“I am good. You have something to ask for your work, right?”

“Nothing but… this big data-driven app.”

“I heard it’s all developed.”

“Yes, but I think I’ll need some data. I was wondering if you could help me a little.”

“Hmm… What kind of data do you need?”

“Any data is fine if I can make money. Our app can generate algorithms on its own with just about any data.”

“Really? Um…”

I thought for a moment, about the articles I had seen in the news of 12 Years After. Within three to four years, the “big data-based medical industry” would grow, and large companies would be born there. Maybe I could grow Ji-hoon’s company like that.

“How’s the medical industry?”

“It’s good. It’s even better on the DNA side.”

“Is that so? Then, there’s a cancer clinic that I regularly sponsor. I’ll put you through to the clinic. That’s enough, right?”

Ji-hoon answered in a happy voice. “That’s good, boss! That would be great!”

His words gave me a good laugh. If he liked it, so did I. Our company had a 51% stake in his company.